Bike lanes are a great idea that need methodical and careful execution, which has not happened thus far. We need a coordinated strategy to place them mostly on residential streets in a contiguous loop and with crosstown transverses … so as not to impede pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

Everything the candidates say in that Brooklyn Paper story depresses me, but this is a particularly great example of candidate doofery, combining the boileriest of boilerplate support with pseudo-urban planning talk.
I dare Tom Allon to write out the history of the planning and execution of five actual bike lanes in the city that went up during JSK’s tenure and then show how they lacked “methodical and careful execution.” (Then he should fire his PR person for allowing that comical redundancy to make it to the press.)

JBK

Not a single one of the mayoral hopefuls is getting my vote or my dollars. If every one of them is running for mayor of 9PPW, why would the NIMBYs who live in 9PPW support any one of them? They won’t. There is no bikelash in the city except that emanating out of 9PPW and Chuck Schumer’s bedroom.

Dontsuemebro

RE the DNAinfo piece – more businesses for the carfree majority to boycott!

“not … ” unless one of them starts changing their tune. Which may seem cynical, but what’s important is to encourage good positions and decry bad ones, the genuine personal motives of the politician are irrelevant.

Joe R.

A Bloomberg fourth term is looking better all the time.

Jesse

Someone needs to run as a third party bike candidate (The Bike Lanes Are Too Damn Short Party). If for no other reason than to get the message out their and dispel all the idiocy. Imagine if there was just one more paragraph in that article with a quote from a candidate that actually made sense. We might actually get a real public debate on this issue for once. People who’d never heard the pro bike lane arguments might actually hear them.

Anonymous

@14a8960ffa19c6b0ffff4264aba1f641:disqus I’m on record here as advocating for founding The Parking Is Too Damn Free party. Bike lanes would, of course, be one of its signature issues.

As would probably personal security, since it’s the kind of name that would inspire death threats . . .

Joe R.

I tried to inject some reason to counteract the idiocy from the candidates in the comments section of the Brooklyn Paper article. Unfortunately, some of the usual suspects came out to comment. I refuse to waste time debating with the morons over there.

The Parking is Too Damn Free party? Where do I sign up? And how about a “There Are Too Many Damn Cars” party while we’re at it?

moocow

Joe, even before you commented here, I was going to commend your attempts and successes over at Bklyn Paper. You can’t win with some of those people, and they are arguing without knowing what they are talking about. You did good, don’t get down about non-nonsensical commenters.

Joe R.

Thank you, moocow. I appreciate the support. You’re quite right that a lot of those people pretty much already made up their minds. Sad to say, it seems most of the mayoral candidates are in the same camp. I’m still guardedly hopeful though. I figure lots of other cities are rolling out bike infrastructure, so regardless of their personal feelings whoever is mayor will feel public pressure to do likewise.

Larry Littlefield

A simple question that no one seems to want to ask. Do people have ride bicycles have a right to any expectation of safety while riding in New York City? Or should they be given no consideration, and accept the risk of injury of death if they choose to ride, became they have no right to be here?

Larry Littlefield

You know what strikes me about all this? It’s all other people’s talking points. None of their own ideas.

Anonymous

@2555783a6f62598b6aadd2d882a4830f:disqus I’m semi-serious about The Parking Is Too Damn Free party. If I thought even fifty people were interested, I might really try to make it happen.

moocow

I am in Dporp. 47 more people and we are going places!!

Eric McClure

@2555783a6f62598b6aadd2d882a4830f:disqus @twowheel:disqus , with apologies to H.L. Mencken, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of Brooklyn Paper commenters.”

Andrew

@dporpentine:disqus for mayor!

Joe R.

I think you’ll easily get 50 people here interested in The Parking Is Too Damn Free party. You only have 46 to go at this point. The lack of properly priced parking is the single biggest reason we have too many cars on the road.

Larry Littlefield

Problem is, you guys do not understand how politics works, and/or like me are unwilling to go along with it.

You don’t get (re) elected by taking away privileges from those who already have them.

You get (re) elected by giving away privileges to those who already have them, and throwing others a bone (like the much lamented by extremely limited money spent on bike lanes) when money is available. And taking things away from those who don’t matter due to “circumstances beyond our control” when money is tight.

You want to know what the future of bike lanes is? A City Council resolution allowing drivers to ignore bike lanes if the paint becomes faint enough to be “illegible.” And no re-painting the bike lanes.

These people don’t make decisions. They make deals, and non-decisions.

jrab

Was anyone else surprised that the Times Sunday Styles article on young Brooklynites moving to the suburbs omitted to mention a single town on Long Island? I know that the Styles section is hardly a hotbed of actual research, and I don’t know if the Williamsburg-to-Hastings-on-Hudson migration is an actual trend or just a trendlet that a reporter picked up on, but it seemed to me to be weird that nobody would be moving east.

Then I checked the commute time function on one of the mapping websites. One of the article subjects said that it was a 45-minute drive from his new Westchester home to his Brooklyn studio. That checks up with the morning rush hour times I found. Interestingly enough, the only LI town that was within the same time distance turned out to be New Hyde Park, right over the Queens border.

So who is going to move to Centereach or Commack when the current residents want to sell their homes? If it takes more than an hour to drive to Brooklyn in the morning, and nearly two hours to take the LIRR, what is the attraction for 21st century families? I know the schools are supposed to be good, but how long are Long Islanders going to pay rising property tax rates to educate kids who are not their grandkids?

Larry Littlefield

jrab: no it does not surprise me. And I’ve said it before, this place is in trouble. The same crew is going to leave Long Island in the same shape they left NYC in during the 1970s.

And they still control the state political apparatus in NYC, too.

krstrois

@85211970d034887d032f8c319f70adbb:disqus I wasn’t really surprised because I think the focus was on these very particular chic towns that may function as suburbs but existed long before the urban/suburban divide and have charm and historical appeal. And that this somehow makes it “ok” to live there whereas Long Island, with its frankly suburban cultural and political values, and Levittown-like housing, would not be appealing to the particular sort of person the piece discussed. The commute you describe and willingness to put up with it is a huge part of the lack of appeal.The actual statistics show the suburbs getting poorer and racially more diverse and didn’t figure into the piece because of course that is counter to the micro-trend narrative.

Larry Littlefield

“I know the schools are supposed to be good, but how long are Long Islanders going to pay rising property tax rates to educate kids who are not their grandkids?show more”

BTW, I compile Census Bureau data on comparative education spending each year. I apply a “cost of living factor” to school districts in the Downstate Suburbs. With that factor, the only NY State school districts that are below the U.S. average are those on Long Island where there has been racial change or fears thereof. Elmont, Franklin Square, etc.

Those still grabbing on the way out the door pander to those fears by opposing things like the LIRR third track and bashing NYC. They want lower paid workers to commute in, not live there, but they don’t want them on the trains OR congesting the roads. They don’t know what they want except to get off Long Island.

there is not even a hint of a strategy — from the cadre of professionals through the corps of elected and appointed officials — on how to grow the tax base commensurate with the liability the city is assuming.

Mr. Marohn of ST is talking about sidewalks here, but the quote nicely wraps up what I was wondering about Long Island: what do the county fathers have in mind to keep the tax base growing in order to pay for the improvements necessary to grow the tax base? The advantage of luring young people from Brooklyn (or anywhere else) is that they are in their prime earning years and would be notionally willing to pay the high property taxes for the decent schools.

Joe R.

The only way I see any of Long Island being even remotely attractive to some young city residents would be if train service were greatly expanded, schedules speeded up somewhat, and there was a lot more development allowed near train stations, including enough shopping and schools near by so a car-free lifestyle would be possible. The typical Long Island lifestyle of tract houses, driving everywhere, clogged roads, etc. is distinctly unappealing to most city residents regardless of how good the schools are.

KillMoto

Somebody needs to legally change their name to “More Bike Lanes”, then get on the ballot. Maybe that person should affiliate themselves with one of the parties listed below.

This would make the ballot itself somewhat of a referendum on bike lanes. Suppose More Bike Lanes wins 10% of the vote? 20%? To dream – 51%? Those in power would have to do something…